


Only Hymns upon Your Lips

by swansaloft (orphan_account)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Dark Swan, Emma Obsessing over Regina's Happiness, F/F, Kissing, Romantic Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-15
Updated: 2015-08-15
Packaged: 2018-04-14 20:59:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4579890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/swansaloft
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She’s a crazed woman on a quest, to press the essence of happiness into your very being using only her mouth, the words leaving her lips a prayer, an invocation, a wish on a cupcake that brought her to you.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Only Hymns upon Your Lips

“You broke up with him.”

 

The voice rings out, flat, in the darkness of the vault, and you’re not even surprised she’s here.

 

“Yes.”

 

“You _broke up_ with him. With your happy ending.” Her voice has a little more life to it this time, a little more of an edge, not accusatory but...hurt.

 

“Emma,” you start calmly, hoping your words will soothe her. You don’t rise from you position sitting near the bottom of the stone steps. “Robin was never my happy ending, only a part of it. I’ve said that before.”

 

“But you didn’t mean it!” Emma shouts as she stalks closer, hair wild, eyes flashing yellow and filling with tears. “Not really.” She's not yelling anymore, but the words keep tumbling from her lips, quick and jagged and hot. “He was like the finish line. You thought once you got there, once you got him, you could be happy, but you _couldn’t_ be happy without him.”

 

“No-”

 

“ _Yes_. Yes, Regina. I thought it was stupid the whole _fucking_ time, but I did it. Because I promised you a happy ending, and he’s what you chose. And now you’re just throwing it away.”

 

She’s close now, close enough for you to see the swirled mixture of gold and blue in her eyes, the way they've been for a month now, to see the way this hurts her like a knife to the heart. Like you should be feeling about losing your soulmate, instead of the hint of sorrow lingering in your chest, floating around somewhere in the vast cloud of relief and under the blanket of indifference that covers everything besides Emma and Henry now.

 

“It wasn’t working,” you say, because she isn’t going to let this go.

 

“Why? Tell me what’s wrong, and I’ll fix it.”

 

“It’s not something you can fix, Emma.”

 

“I’m the Dark One now, Regina. I can do whatever the hell I want.” A little something dark slithers through those words, something like pride in this power, something you should be worried about. Something that means you need to find Merlin and _soon_.

 

“He’s not what I want.”

 

“Then what do you want instead?”

 

You laugh, but it’s emptier than Daniel’s eyes after you watched the life fade from them, emptier than your mother’s hollow chest.

 

“Nothing you can give me.”

 

Emma draws back like she's been slapped, and the air vibrates when she shouts, “ _NO._ ” She breathes hard a couple times, getting herself under control. She gazes into your eyes, willing you to answer her. “Just think harder. What do you want? Anything. Anything at all. I can climb mountains or travel realms or get you George fucking Clooney. Just _think_ , Regina. What do you want?”

 

_I want you back._

 

You just shake your head, and Emma collapses to her knees in front of you on a sob. Her eyes are manic, more blue than gold now.

 

“I just want you to be happy,” she says, her voice broken, reaching out and placing her hands on your knees, so earnest. “You deserve it, more than anyone I know. You’re so good. So good, Regina. You went through hell. You raised our son and you changed so completely all by yourself. You’re so bright, so strong. You saved me.”

 

“I didn’t save you.”

 

“You _did_. You did when it mattered.”

 

“But not-”

 

“ _Shut up_.” Her voice echoes in the small room. “This wasn’t something you could stop, and you know it. It was my choice. I wanted to give you happiness. You deserve it, Regina. Why does it keep running away from you? Why can’t you be _happy_?”

 

She slides her hands onto the step on either side of you and hoists herself up until she's looming slightly above you.

 

“Just be happy.” Emma says emphatically, and she leans forward and presses her lips to your forehead like a parent wishing a child good night. She moves up toward your hairline and presses a kiss there, too. “Happy,” she repeats, quieter but just as firm.

 

“Happy.” This time it’s barely above a whisper, and Emma breathes the word like a caress as she moves down to kiss your right eyebrow. Her breath ghosts upon your skin and leaves gooseflesh on the back of your neck and butterflies in your stomach.

 

You should pull back.

 

You’re paralyzed.

 

You're on fire.

 

You’re-

 

“ _Happy_ ,” Emma says, and it’s louder again, passionate, or maybe it’s just because she’s moved to the edge of your cheekbone near your ear.

 

She’s a crazed woman on a quest, to press the essence of happiness into your very being using only her mouth, the words leaving her lips a prayer, an invocation, a wish on a cupcake that brought her to you.

 

She repeats the word over and over, her lips barely even moving from your skin as she presses a dozen kisses around your face and on top of your head and across your chin.

 

She moves down your neck, still mumbling around the kisses she’s pressing into your flesh, and you have to grab at her arm because the sensations are growing too intense, and this isn’t what Emma means to do.

 

But before you can push her back, Emma abruptly breaks away from your throat and moves back up until she’s two inches away, eye to eye, nose to nose, lip to lip, staring directly into your eyes. Hers are wet and wild and they pierce your very _soul_ with the intensity of their gaze.

 

And no.

 

This is _exactly_ what Emma is doing.

 

You understand suddenly. The way she has always been there for you, supporting you no matter what. The way she puts you above herself. Her intense fixation with your happiness.

 

Because love is selfless like that.

 

“Happy,” she breathes on a sob, a benediction, and she presses her lips to your own.

 

It’s _everything._

 

It shatters the earth and your heart cracks and spills and your lungs seize and your lips move and your hands shake. You taste salty tears and flat metal, something cold like peppermint and Emma Emma _Emma._

 

She never touches you with anything but her mouth, her hands still resting on the step on either side of your legs.

 

The only point of contact is at your lips, and you want more, you want it all, you want _forever_. You’re shaking, shaking-

 

No, that’s the vault. The walls are trembling, the air around you static and vibrating with magic, with yours and hers, and still you kiss-

 

-until she pulls back with a startled cry and disappears in a whirl of frightened eyes and darkness, and you’re left behind sitting in a cloud of electric magic with tingling lips and a heart three sizes too big for your ribcage.

 

“I will save you, Emma.”

 

The words echo off the walls. You’re alone.

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t know what this is? I was writing a cute little scene in my SQBB (which has no Dark Swan in sight) when this suddenly popped into my head out of nowhere. So I started writing it down, because dark!Emma being desperately obsessed with Regina's happiness is my kryptonite, and I hadn't written anything with it yet. And now here we are. I probably could have turned it into a full fic, but honestly anything I could do has already been done, and better. So I think I'm just going to keep it this little scene. 
> 
> Title from "Touch Me" from Spring Awakening.


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